College students and twenty-somethings aren’t the only people looking for a roommate. A Barrie property management company is now offering up shared housing for seniors.

“I thought I would give it a shot, and see what happened,” says Anna Moore, the president of AMR Group.

Moore has turned three former student houses into homes for seniors, citing less turnover and more reliability.
Moore says many student homes weren’t taken care of, and damage to the property was common, which is why Moore and her home-owners plan to make a permanent shift to senior housing.

“We’re going to triculate every single student house we manage, one by one, into a senior residence,” says Moore.

To make it work for the homeowner, there needs to be six seniors in every home. Snow clearing and grass cutting are taken care of. Each senior pays $650 all in.

Laura Pullman and Nancy Drever are seniors. They have four roommates: two men and two women. They both found the ad for their home on Kijiji.

“Obviously the financial end of it is really nice,” says Pullman.  But many feel it’s the social aspect that is the true benefit.

“When you live in a room, you’re all by yourself,” says Drever. “There’s no communication and you get depressed. It’s not depressing here. I like it, it’s fun.”

Anna Moore says there could be as many as fifty of the homes on the market by the end of May, and that there could be hundreds in the coming years.